The Journal
by The Dutchman
Summary: Harry finds Dumbledore's Journal. What he does with it will affect the entire Wizarding world. Rated T for some language.


Harry Potter and the Potter universe, are the property of J.K Rowling.

A/N #1: This is a Harry Potter One shot in 5 Acts. I wrote it about 2 years ago and it then sat on a disk unfinished because I couldn't end it properly. Recently I decided top try a different approach in regards to the ending. This is the result. Not what I originally intended, but I'll leave it up to you to decide whether it's good or bad.

Act I – The Beginning

Number 4 Privet Drive

July 15, 1996. 2:30 am.

Harry sat down at the small desk in his room. He had been thinking about this for the last two weeks. Ever since his meeting with the Headmaster….ever since he found the journal….ever since his world and nearly everything he believed in came crashing down around him.

Silently he pulled out a fresh piece of parchment, and started to write.

_To Lord Voldemort._

_We need to meet face to face to discuss our common enemy, Dumbledore._

_I am going to assume you own a pensive, or can get one. I suggest a consular pensive as the memories put in them cannot be altered in any way. As such you can tell that the enclosed memory is real and unaltered._

_Look at the enclosed memory, and if you agree to the terms, send me one back with your oath and a portkey, and I will come to meet you at your convenience._

_Harry Potter._

Harry rolled the parchment up and gently put the small vial containing a memory strand inside, securing it in place with spell-o-tape because as he was only 15…well, 16 in another 2 weeks, he still couldn't use magic outside school without the Ministry having a bird. Fortunately for him though, magical oaths didn't count.

Not that he particularly cared about this right now, but for the time being, it would be best to stay off the Ministries radar.

"Hedwig." He called softly.

The Snowy Owl gracefully made the short trip across the room with one flap of her wings and landed on his shoulder. A soft "Hoot" coming from her as she landed.

"I need you to take this to him girl. Will you?"

Hedwig looked at her master. She had seen his in many moods. Angry, afraid, depressed, but never like this. There was a suppressed rage inside him now, the likes of which she had never sensed from anyone. She knew instinctively it was not directed towards her, in fact she felt that he cared about her just as much as he did before and would never hurt her. But still, these feelings worried her. She hoped her Wizard wasn't making a big mistake.

Harry seemed to know what she was feeling, and reach up to stroke the owls feathers gently. "Don't worry girl, I know what I'm doing. He has to be stopped, and this is the only way to do it. Will you carry the letter?"

Hedwig hooted, and stuck out her leg to allow Harry to attach the rolled parchment to it.

"Wait for an answer girl. I'm sure he'll have one."

The Snowy Owl hooted again as Harry carried her over to the open window sill. "Have a safe flight Hedwig." He told her. "I'll be waiting when you get back."

Hedwig leaped into the air and took off into the dark sky. Harry watched her until she disappeared from sight, which didn't take long despite the lights around Privet Drive. "No turning back now." He said to himself, and then lay down on his small bed to wait for Hedwig to return.

-=ooo000ooo=-

Riddle Manor

1 ½ hours Later

Tom Marvolo Riddle, known to the rest of the Wizarding World as Lord Voldemort, was still recovering from his fight in the Ministry of Magic with Albus Dumbledore and Harry Potter. At the end of that fight, he had been exposed as being alive and not even that fool Fudge could deny it any longer. Too many people had seen him. This hadn't been what he wanted though. He had wanted time to gather up and prepare his forces in secret till he was ready to strike, and Fudge, by refusing to listen to Dumbledore, had been playing right into that plan perfectly.

True, this had not been his original plan. He had wanted to kill Potter that night in the graveyard, and he figured that when the little bastard had managed to get away, his re-emergence would have been announced to the world. But no. Fudge had been either too frightened at the mere thought of his return, or else he didn't want to disrupt the neat little power base he had managed to create in the years since his fall. In either case, he had had a year to quietly build up his forces to the point they were almost as strong as they were at the end of the first war. He would have liked another 6 months or so, but he would take what he could get.

He was thinking about this, and at the same time listening to Avery droning on about how well their recruitment in the Balkans was going, when he saw the snowy white owl come gliding into the hall. It flew around in a circle a few times, until it spotted him and then glided down and landed on the arm of the throne he was sitting in.

"That's Potter's owl!" Shrieked Bellatrix Lestrange, pulling out her wand to blast the owl into pin feathers.

"Wait!" Voldemort commanded, looking down at the owl. "Potter wouldn't have risked sending his owl here without a reason Bella. Don't you think it _might_ be a good idea to find out why he did that before you blast it?"

He didn't bother waiting for an answer from Lestrange, but rather turned to the owl and asked. "You have a message for me?"

Hedwig hooted and extended her leg, the scroll still attached.

Voldemort untied it, but before opening the scroll, he cast a revealing spell on the scroll to make sure there were no hidden surprises. He didn't really expect to find any, as Potter would know he would check, and as he suspected, found nothing, and so broke the seal on the parchment and opened it.

The letter was short and to the point. He also saw the small vial containing the memory strand. "Bella, get me the consular pensive. I want to take a look at this memory." He said, still looking at the vial.

"Do you think it's safe Master? What if it's a trick?" Lestrange asked.

Voldemort slowly looked up at her "Are you questioning my judgement Bella?" he asked coldly.

Lestrange gulped, and all the Death Eaters in the room took a few steps back. They had seen things like this happen before, and they usually didn't end well. "No, no Master…NEVER." She stammered, and then practically ran to where the pensive was stored. When she returned with the heavy stone bowl, she sat it down on a small table in front of Voldemort, then stepped back, her head bowed

"Everyone leave." He commanded, and the Death Eaters started to file out of the hall. Nobody saying a word. They were happy to get away from what they knew was likely coming. "Except you Bella." he added in that same cold voice.

When the room was empty, and the doors closed. He said, "Why do you question me Bella? Why do you…YOU who I have showed so much favor, question me in from of my followers?"

Now Bellatrix Lestrange was considered one of the most powerful and dangerous witches in the world. Not to mention one of the most mentally unstable. Utterly fearless in battle. But right now she was trembling with a fear the likes of which she had never felt before. She knew she had screwed up, and that she was going to pay for it dearly. Most likely with her life.

"You have been with me almost from the beginning Bella. You and Rodolphus chose to go to Azkaban rather than denounce me. And yet you question my judgement. ME! AND IN FRONT OF ME DEATH EATERS!" He roared.

Bella fell to her knees and seemed to crumple into a ball in front of him. "Master….I…"

"Silence!" he said, and then let her sit there on the floor while he regained control of his anger. Finally he said softly, "I want you to know Bella, that I regret doing this, and it is only because of your years of faithful service and the fact that I actually like you, that I do not kill you for this disobedience." Voldemort said, raising his wand.

"Master…please! I…"

"CRUCIO!" Voldemort yelled.

Bellatrix started screaming as the spell hit her. She screamed and screamed for what seemed to her like days, but in fact was only about three minutes. Voldemort was a master of this spell, somehow knowing instinctively just how long he could hold someone under it before it broke their mind. Finally when he thought she had had enough, he ended it.

Lestrange lay twitching on the floor, blood dripping out of her mouth from where she had bit her tongue, and a pool of urine under her when she lost control of her bladder.

He wondered for a moment if he had gone too far, and reached out to scan her mind with Legitimacy. He found it intact, but battered. She would recover.

"Rodolphus," He called out, "come and get your wife."

Rodolphus Lestrange came quickly into the room, figuring he would be taking a body out of the hall. "Get her cleaned up, and her injuries healed." Voldemort told him, and then turning his attention back to Bellatrix. "Remember this punishment Bella. I won't be so lenient next time."

Bellatrix couldn't answer him. In fact she could barely move of her own free will, but with what little control she did have, she slowly blinked her eyes in acknowledgement, before finally giving in to the darkness threatening to enveloped her. She wouldn't wake up for nearly a week.

After Lestrange had levitated his wife out of the room and cleaned up the mess she had left on the floor. Voldemort turned his attention back to the letter and memory vial sent to him by Harry Potter. He opened the small bottle and poured it's contents into the bowl and tapped the side with his wand. An image of Harry Potter rose up from the surface.

"_Hello Tom." _The image of Potter said. "_As I said in my letter, we have to meet face to face. We have a lot to talk about. But I have no intention of coming to see you without a guarantee of safety. So I want a magical vow from you that if I come to see you, I will not be harmed in any way, and that I will be allowed to leave unmolested, by either you, or anyone under your command as long as I make no attempt to harm anyone while I am there. To this end, I offer my own oath."_

Voldemort saw the image of Potter raise his wand and intone:

_"I Harry James Potter, swear on my magic, that if Tom Marvolo Riddle, also known as Lord Voldemort, gives me his oath guaranteeing my safety, and also that I will be allowed to leave afterwards, that I will not attempt to harm either him, or any of his followers. I also swear that I will bring no tracking devices that will allow his location to be revealed, or to allow others to portkey to it's location. So mote it be."_

Voldemort saw the blue light envelop Potter as the oath took hold and was accepted. Potter continued.

"_Now, if you agree to the meeting, simply send back a memory of your own showing your own oath, along with a voice activated portkey to wherever you want to meet. I've asked Hedwig to wait for your answer."_

The image collapsed back into the pensive.

Tom Riddle was very rarely caught off guard. But he had to admit, even if it was only to himself, that this was the last thing he expected from Potter. What could Dumbledore have done to make the boy want to come and see him? Bella killing his Godfather? Possibly, but somehow he didn't think so. There had to be more to it. He was sure the pensive message was genuine. Potter had been correct in his letter when he said that a consular pensive couldn't be fooled by a fake memory, and the oath Potter took was also genuine. _Only one way to find out_ he thought to himself. He conjured a quill and wrote at the bottom of Potter's original letter:

_I agree. 5 pm tonight. This parchment will act as the portkey. The activation phrase is 'Lord Voldemort Reins Supreme'_

_V._

After rolling the parchment up, he took out his wand and held it up saying:

"Potter I agree to meet you. The portkey will bring you directly into my private chamber. There will be nobody else here when you arrive except Nagini_"_ then after pausing for a moment added: "I Tom Marvolo Riddle swear on my magic, that if Harry Potter meets with me tonight at the time appointed, that I guarantee he will not be harmed in any way by either myself or any of my followers. I also guarantee he will be allowed to leave unmolested any time he wishes. So mote it be"

A blue light identical to one Voldemort surrounded his for a moment before fading. Satisfied that the oath had been accepted, he conjured a small vial and extracted the memory of the oath and placed it in the bottle, then sealed it. He placed in the centre of the rolled up parchment and then used a sticking charm to attaché it. Then turning his attention back to Hedwig, who had been sitting quietly on the arm of his chair the entire time, he said. "Take this back to your owner." and tied the message onto Hedwig's outstretched leg.

Voldemort watched, much like Harry had done hours before as the white owl took off and flew out an open window. Not knowing that his short answer to Harry's letter would change the course of Wizarding history forever.

Act II - Preparations

Number 4 Privet Drive

6:00 am.

Harry was in a semi doze when Hedwig returned. He had his eyes closed and didn't hear when she ghosted into his room and landed on her perch. She waited for him to notice her, and when he didn't, she gave let go with a very annoyed (and loud) "HOOT!"

Harry's eyes sprung open and he saw the owl sitting there glaring at him. "I'm sorry girl," he said, getting off his bed and going over to her. "I must have dozed off waiting for you. I'm glad you're back safe."

She nipped his fingers lightly. Not as lightly as she usually did, but just hard enough to remind him not to do it again.

"So he sent back an answer?"

In response, the owl simply stuck out her leg so he could untie the message.

Harry removed it gently, and then carried Hedwig over to his desk when there was already food and water waiting for her. "Here you go girl, have something to eat, and then get some rest for the night. Unless you want to go out to hunt. You've earned it."

Hedwig softly hooted her thanks, and then stated to drink. Harry in the mean time went over to his bed and sat down to read the message from Voldemort. His face betrayed nothing as he read it and removed the memory vial, which he took over to the pensive he had acquired through Gringotts just before coming back to Privet Drive for the summer.

He opened the small bottle and poured the contents into the pensive and then tapped the edge with his wand. And image of Voldemort rose up from the surface.

"_Potter I agree to meet you. The portkey will bring you directly into my private chamber. There will be nobody else here when you arrive except Nagini"_ Voldemort then raised his wand. "_I Tom Marvolo Riddle swear on my magic, that if Harry Potter meets with me tonight at the time appointed, that I guarantee he will not be harmed in any way by either myself or any of my followers. I also guarantee he will be allowed to leave unmolested any time he wishes. So mote it be" _

Harry watched as the failure blue light surrounded Voldemort and then winked out. Signifying that the oath had been accepted. Then the image dropped back into the surface of the pensive.

Harry allowed himself a small smile. _You brought this on yourself you old fuck!_ He thought to himself as he got up and walked over to his bedroom door. He looked at the door, concentrating hard for a few moments. His skills at wandless magic weren't very advanced by any means. But since he started reading Dumbledore's journal, he had been practicing three spells. The door locking, silencing and summoning charms. He finally managed them after a week of trying. He now locked and silenced his door because he didn't want to be disturbed by his _"loving family"_ while he got some much needed rest. He'd need all his wits about him when he met with Voldemort later that night.

He lay down on the small bed, and after setting his alarm clock for 3 pm, pulled a cover over himself and was asleep within minutes.

-=ooo000ooo=-

Harry woke up just after 1 o'clock on his own.

Yawning, he sat up and grouped around on the small nightstand for his glasses. Finding them, he put them on and looked at the clock. He knew it wasn't 3 because the alarm didn't wake him. After seeing it was nearly a quarter after 1, he got up, grabbed some clean clothes from the pile next to his desk, (The Dursleys had never seen fit to give him a dresser to put them in) he unlocked his door and went into the bathroom to take a shower.

Returning 15 minutes later, he dropped the dirty clothes into a pile next to his bed, and reached over to get his wand. He had in a spring loaded wand holster that he had owl ordered from Ollivanders during the school year. It had cost him 20 Galleons, but it had every protective charm Ollivander could legally put on it. Silently he strapped the holster onto his forearm and then tested it with a snap of his wrist. Instantly his wand flew into his hand. Satisfied it was working, he put it back into the holster, and started downstairs to get something to eat.

As he passed the opening to the living room where his uncle and whale of a cousin were watching a football game on television, he herd Vernon Dursley bellow "BOY!" Harry ignored him and continued to the kitchen. Inside he found his Aunt Petunia making cookies for Vernon and Dudley. (Mostly Dudley) When she saw him she snapped "Do you have any idea what time it is?"

Harry make a big show of looking at his watch and the said in a neutral voice "It's One Twenty-nine, and forty-two seconds, forty-three seconds, forty-four sec…"

But he was suddenly interrupted by the sound of the kitchen door crashing open, revealing his very pissed off looking uncle.

"Boy, do you know what the time is? And how dare you ignore he when I'm talking to you! It's clear they don't teach you manners at that freak school of yours, so I'll just have to take it on myself to _educate you!_" He started towards Harry, his hands balled into fists.

Harry for his part, didn't show any concern. He simply snapped his want out and leveled it between his uncles eyes. "Stop where you are fat man." He said coldly. "Unless you want me to turn you into the pig you already are."

Vernon hadn't noticed the wand holster on Harry's arm when he entered the kitchen because he had been too enraged that the boy had ignored him when he passed. He did however notice it now. But more importantly, he saw the wand in the boys hand. Not that he could help it as it was pointed right at him.

"You can't pull that shite on me boy! I know you can't do magic during the summer or they'll kick you out of that freak school." But to Vernon's surprise, Harry simply smiled and waved his wand in a small circle.

Harry had come up with this idea during the year. He had made up a very official looking parchment, complete with an equally official looking Ministry of Magic's seal at the top. He had planned on giving it to his aunt and uncle after he arrived _"home" _so they would leave him alone for the summer. When he waved his wand in the air, he hadn't used it to do magic, but instead had silently Accio'd the letter from his room. The fact that he could only do two spells wandlessly without the Ministry knowing, neither of which couldn't hurt them, he conveniently forgot to mention. Vernon gasped in shock when the rolled up parchment floated into the kitchen and into his waiting hand.

He held it out to his uncle saying, "Professor Dumbledore managed to get me a waiver from the Minister of Magic himself to be able to do magic during the summer. The only restriction is that I can't do it in front of non magicals who don't already know about it."

Vernon reached out to take the rolled up parchment, almost like he was afraid to touch it. (which he was) and unrolled it to read.

_June 28, 1995_

_To whom it may concern:_

_Harry James Potter, age 15 at the time of this letter, and a student Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry has been granted permission to use magic during the summer break. He must abide by the International Statute of Secrecy, but other wise he now holds the same wand rights as an adult Wizard._

_This waiver shall continue to be in force unless canceled or suspended by either myself or the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement._

_Signed:_

_Cornelius Oswald Fudge_

_Minister of Magic for Great Britain._

Vernon tried to say something be couldn't. Instead, he silently handed it to his wife with a trembling hand. Petunia read the letter and paled.

"Petunia dear, is it…is it _real?"_

She quickly read the parchment before looking up at her husband and nodding.

Harry smiled evilly at his uncle. He knew that any Auror who looked at the parchment would know in an instant it was fake, because he had made up the Ministry seal, but his aunt and uncle didn't know that.

"So you see dear Uncle, if any of you give me any grief this summer, I'm going to turn the whole lot of you into dung beetles and let you eat dog shite all summer. Do we understand each other?"

Quickly Vernon nodded.

"Good. Now, why don't you go back to watching your football game, and you Aunt Petunia, please continue what you were doing?" Harry said in mock sweetness.

Vernon turned and started back to the living room, and Dudley who had come with him in hopes of seeing Harry get pounded started following him. "Not so fast Dudley, you stay here." He commanded, and then turning his attention to his aunt asked "Aunt Petunia, do you have that list of chores you wanted me to do this week?"

She nodded and when to get the list which was under a magnet on the fridge. It was a _long_ list. Nearly two feet long, and included things like repainting the house and fence, (again) weeding the garden, mowing the lawn, etc. She handed it to him with a trembling hand. "Thank you Aunt Petunia." He said with the same sickly sweet voice, and started to read it. When he finished it he said "Oh this is fine. I'll make sure every one of these things is done by the end of the week." She looked at him puzzled, but he simply turned to Dudley and slapped the list onto his cousins chest, holding it there with his left hand because his right still held his wand. "But it's Dear Dudley that's going to do them. Aren't you Big D?"

Dudley simply gaped at him. Doing what Harry thought was a perfect impression of a fish. His mouth opening and closing, but no sound coming out.

"Because if he doesn't, he's going to spend the summer in a terrarium eating shite…... and you don't want to be eating shite all summer do you Big D?"

Dudley shook his head no, still not having regained the power of speech.

"Good." And then waiting a few moments and seeing Dudley hadn't moved, he said, "Well? What are you waiting for you fat lump? GET MOVING!"

Dudley moved. Faster than Harry thought possible, and was out the door. Harry turned back to his aunt. "I have an appointment to go to at 5 o'clock, and I don't know how long I'll be, so you don't have to make anything for me. I'll get my own dinner tonight before coming home. But for now," he said, sitting down at the table, "you can make me something for lunch."

His lunch turned out to be cold meat pie, which he liked cold, cheese, bread, as well as the unheard of number of _two_ large glasses of milk. He ate every scrap.

When he was finished, he wiped his mouth on a napkin and got up from the table, (leaving his dirty dishes on the table) and addressed his aunt. "Thank you Aunt Petunia, lunch was very good." and without waiting for her to comment, he left the kitchen and went back up to his room till it was time to leave.

-=ooo000ooo=-

When he returned to his room, he opened his Hogwarts trunk and pulled out the dress robes he had worn to the Triwizard Ball the year before. They were a bit small on him, but he saw that as long as he didn't button them up, they looked fine. One must look their best when visiting a Dark Lord after all. He took the robes off and laid them down on his bed for later, and went over to his desk to write a letter.

_Dear Hermione…._

An hour later, he had finally completed it, (having gone through six revisions), put it in a muggle envelope, and sealed it with wax. "Hedwig, do you know how to tell time?"

The owl glared at him and gave an indignant sounding "HOOT!" as if to say "Of course I can, stupid human!"

"Okay, okay," Harry said holding up both his hands in a sign of surrender. "I know you're much smarter than a regular post owl, but I had to ask to make sure." Hedwig looked mollified by this, so Harry continued. "If I'm not back by 11 tonight. Please take this letter to Hermione. But not before 11. Okay?"

Hedwig bobbed her head in a yes.

"Thank you." He said, and set the letter on his desk standing up so she'd be more easily able to pick it up…if she had to.

Harry looked at his watch. Five after three. Less than two hours to wait.

-=ooo000ooo=-

The nearly 2 hour wait seemed to drag on for and eternity for Harry. But finally he looked at his watch and saw that it was 7 minutes to 5. He had laid down on his bed again to wait. He knew he wouldn't fall asleep. He was too wired. He got up with a sigh, and after combing his hair, put his dress robes on, and then walked back over to his desk and picked up the portkey/letter.

He also slipped a small leather bound book into the right pocket of his robes.

He then reached out and stroked Hedwig's feathers. "Hedwig," he began. Feeling a lump starting to form in his throat. "If this doesn't work…if I don't come back tonight, thank you for being my friend all these years. You're the best owl a wizard could ever have."

Hedwig gave him a soft, almost mournful hoot as she bobbed her head. She didn't know what he was going to do, but she knew her wizard was going to be putting himself in danger tonight, and that she might never see him again.

He held the parchment in his hand, and then glancing at his owl one last time said, "_Lord Voldemort Reins Supreme."_

He felt the portkey activate, and a pulling sensation behind his navel as he disappeared from Privet Drive.

Act III – The Agreement Part I

Riddle Manor

5 pm

Harry arrived in a large, dimly lit hall. Empty of furniture save for a rather ostentatious throne sitting against the far wall. In it sat the only other occupant of the hall save for himself, Voldemort.

"Hello Tom," Harry said in a neutral tone. "thank you for agreeing to see me tonight."

If Voldemort was annoyed at not being addressed by his chosen title, he didn't show it. It fact he just sat there silently looking at Harry for the first few moments before finally replying. "I must admit Potter that I'm curious as to why you would take so large a risk as to come here, despite the precautions you've taken.

"As I said, we need to talk. To talk about the things you've done, the things I've done, but more importantly, the things that have been done to both of us by Albus Dumbledore. But before I continue, could you drop the glamour. You may be able to fool those idiot Death Eaters of yours with it, but I can see through them."

"What are you talking about Potter. What glamour?" Voldemort asked.

"The glamour you've cast on yourself to make you look like an evil half snake, half human hybrid."

"You are full of surprises aren't you Potter?" Voldemort asked as he closed his eyes in concentration. Slowly the glamour lifted and Harry saw before him a middle aged wizard with still black hair. He easily recognized this man as an older version of the sixteen year old he had last seen in the Chamber of Secrets. "Happy now?"

"Yes, and thank you. Now where was I?"

"You were starting to tell me about what Dumbledore has done to both of us." Voldemort replied.

"Oh yeah. Well, you see, four days before the end of last term, Dumbledore called me to his office to talk about where I would be going during the summer. He insisted, as usual, that I go back to my relatives because it was the one place other than Hogwarts, that was safe from you and your Death Eaters. He also told me that the Goblins would be reading Sirius's will soon but that for security reasons, I couldn't go to the reading, but rather, he would choose a suitable Order member to act as my representative." Harry had to stop here, as he was starting to let his anger get the better of him. Voldemort saw this, but didn't say anything, preferring to stay silent and let the boy continue with his story.

"Unknown to him though, I had already been to the reading of Sirius's will the weekend before. The Goblins had told me about it in a letter that contained a portkey to and from the school. I was the only one there because Sirius had left me the entire Black Estate as well as the Title of Lord Black. He also left me a private letter which, among other things, warned me about Dumbledore. Sirius felt there was something "off" about the old man, even though he couldn't pin anything down. I won't go into all of it, but he actually made two wills. The real legal one that was read to me, and a fake one that the Goblins read out a week later to Dumbledore and the other people that were called to the reading. All the bequests in the fake will were real, and were in the legal will, he just instructed the Goblins not to transfer the items until the fake one was read out. He even left Dumbledore fifty thousand galleons. Telling him it was for the Order so they could continue the fight. In actuality, it was to keep from becoming suspicious."

Here, Harry paused again, and then after taking a few calming breaths, he continued. "Anyhow, he told me all this, and then started to tell me that he also wanted me to continue Occlumency training with Snape when school started next term. Needless to say I wasn't pleased with this, and was starting to argue with him about it when a message arrived for the Headmaster. I don't know what it was, but he seemed quite upset about it. He excused himself and told me to wait there in his office for him, and that he shouldn't be more than 20 minutes. Then he left without waiting for me to answer."

When Harry paused yet again, Voldemort took the opportunity to speak for the first time. "You say he left you the entire Black estate. Does that include the Black seat on the Wizengamot?"

Harry gave him a small smile. "Yes it does. It fact I now control 4 seats on the Wizengamot."

"Four?" Voldemort asked astonished. "How? I can understand two…the Black and Potter seats when you come of age…but how do you control four?"

"Well first you need to know that Sirius emancipated me in his will. So legally I'm an adult, but I asked the Goblins to hold off formally filing the papers with the Ministry until next week. Which is also why I still can't do magic outside school. I could get the charges dropped if I did, because as I've said, I'm legally an adult now, but I'd have to tell them about the emancipation, and then Dumbledore would find out before I want him too."

"And the third seat?" Voldemort asked.

"When I became _of age,_ thanks to Sirius, I got full access to the Potter Estate, and the Goblins informed me that I'm also the magical and legal heirs to both the Peverell and Gryffindor Estates. Each of which hold a seat, and which coincidently, Dumbledore holds the proxies for."

Harry saw that Voldemort was gob smacked at this news. Finally though, he said, "The Peverell family is one of the oldest magical pure blood family in our world, and Gryffindor is as well. So if you're the magical heir to both of them, plus the Potter family…Potter, just how powerful are you?" he asked, a note of fear in his voice.

Harry smiled again slightly. "In terms of raw power? More powerful than you and Dumbledore put together." Harry paused again to let this sink in before continuing. "And I will admit, had fate not stepped in to let me discover what I did when Dumbledore stepped out to attend to his emergency, I would have used that power to squash you like a bug. You and every one of your followers. But, fate, as Dumbledore will find out, can be a real bitch sometimes. Especially when wizards try interfering with her plans for their own gain."

"Explain ." Voldemort said.

"As I said," Harry began, "Dumbledore was called out of his meeting with me, and for the first five minutes or so, I just sat there looking at the walls. Finally though, I decided to get something to read while I was waiting for the Headmaster to return, so I went over to one of the bookcases in his office. Now, I had every intention of getting a book about defense or advanced charms, but instead I saw a book titled _'Wizengamot Rules and Procedures – A Guide to How Our Government Works.'_ And that got me to thinking about the four seats I controlled, and how I would have to know what I was doing before I even set foot in there. So I pulled that one down instead. Well, the first thing I noticed was that all the pages were stuck together, and that the book had been hollowed out so that another smaller book could be hidden inside. It was a journal. Dumbledore's journal in fact, one that he began when he started at Hogwarts in 1848, and which continued right up to the present day."

Harry paused again, again to let Voldemort absorb this new information before continuing. "Now you must understand Tom, normally I would never think about invading someone's privacy by reading their private journal, but these weren't normal times. I had started to get very suspicious about Dumbledore of late, and Sirius's letter just made it worse. So I made a decision. I knew I couldn't start reading it there in his office because I obviously knew he wouldn't be happy about it to say the least, so after checking that there were no security charms on the book, I made a magical copy of it, and then put the original back where I found it. Then after pocketing the journal, I took down a charms book from another shelf and started to look through it, and that was how Dumbledore found me when he returned, reading a book on charms. I told him that I hoped he didn't mind me poking through his bookcase, and that I was just looking for something to pass the time…and you know, for an instant, just an instant, I saw both fear and anger in his eyes, and something in the back of my mind told me he was worried about his journal, but it passed as soon as he saw the book I was reading. I think that's why he put it in a book about the Wizengamot. Normally it would be the last thing anybody would want to read about. Very logical thinking actually, and were it not for a number of unlikely circumstances coming together, it would have worked, I never would have thought about reading about how the Government works."

"Circumstances?" Voldemort asked.

"Well, first finding out I controlled four seats, and there was Sirius's suspicions about Dumbledore, and his deciding that he could dictate my life. So I guess I just decided that I wanted more control, and learning about the seats I had was one of the first steps. As I said, Fate can be a real bitch sometimes, but she also has a sense of humor."

Harry reached into his pocket and pulled out a medium sized, leather bound book. "This is a copy of the one I made in Dumbledore's office. I thought you might like to take a look for yourself. You can keep that one as I still have mine, and if you want, I'm willing to swear that it's an exact copy of the one I made."

Voldemort look at him for a long time before replying. "No Potter, that won't be necessary. I believe you."

"I'll tell you some of it tonight, and I've marked some of the more, _interesting_ passages for you to read in detail. But for now, Dumbledore has played both of us since we were children."

"What are you talking about Potter?" Voldemort snapped angrily. "No one has _played_ me Potter."

"I'm sorry Tom, but he has. Every since that day you both first met in the orphanage in 1944. the day Dumbledore arrived to give you your Hogwarts letter."

"How do you know about that Potter?" Voldemort practically hissed.

"It's all in the book. That and much more. Like how he found that you had stolen token items from your house mates. Items like the harmonica, and how he _forced_ you to do the right thing by giving them back and apologizing to them. Or how he set your wardrobe on fire to prove magic exists." At this point Harry had to hold up his hands to stop Voldemort from interrupting. "No Tom, let me continue. You'll see why. You see Tom, Dumbledore recognized how powerful you would become the instant he saw you, and also in that instant, he decided to use you to further his plans. You see, he found out from the orphanage's matron, Mrs. Cole, all about how you had no friends, how you were always moody, and how all the other children treated you like a freak, because strange things happened around you. So he decided to use that to further your alienation from the muggle world and push you towards the dark. He had hoped you'd grow into a dark Lord so that he, the Defeater of Grindelwald, could once again ride to the rescue of the magical world. He would then use that fame, and his connections in the government to push to gradually to take over first the magical world, and then the muggle. His ultimate long term goal was to see the muggles subjugated into something like a human version of a House Elf. "

"Potter, much as I despise Dumbledore, I find it next to impossible to believe that the patron saint of all muggles wants them enslaved."

'I don't blame you. I wouldn't believe it either, were it not for Ariana."

"Who is this Ariana. An old girlfriend of Dumbledore's?" Voldemort asked sarcastically.

"No, not a girlfriend, but his sister." Harry sighed. He didn't want to think about this, let alone talk about it. But he knew he must. "His eight year old sister who one day was in a muggle park in Godric's Hollow, playing with daisies. She, like all the Dumbledore's, was very powerful magically, and she was using wandless magic to make the daisies open and close. Two sixteen year old muggle boys saw what she was doing, and tried to force her to tell them how she was doing that trick, and when she wouldn't, they started beating her. The beating got worse and worse the more she refused, and finally culminated with them dragging the girl into some bushes and raping her."

At this point, Harry had to stop. Not for effect this time, but to get himself under control. Finally after a minute or so, he continued. "The attack, broke her mind. The healers at the time told the family that believed that had it been one or the other, she would have likely been okay with time, but between being beaten within an inch of her life, and then gang raped, it was too much. Her magic retreated into itself. She was still a witch, but she had no control over her power, and it would lash out, usually violently, when she was upset. The only male member of the family that could get near her was Aberforth, Albus's younger brother. She seemed to be able to tolerate Albus being in the same room with her as long as he didn't try to approach her, and she knew where he was at all times."

"What about the father?" Voldemort asked.

"Percival Dumbledore was so incensed by his daughters attack, and the fact that they were acquitted, that he tracked down the two muggle boys and killed them. Avada Kedavra. He then turned himself in to the Aurors and spent the remainder of his life in Azkaban."

"And the sister? What happened to her? Is she still alive?" asked Voldemort.

"No," Harry replied with a sigh. "she's not. In 1856, when Albus was away touring the world after graduating top of his class at Hogwarts, and Aberforth was finishing up his sixth year there, Ariana, who was being looked after by their mother, had a fit of rage. She had had them before, and Kendra, her mother, had always been able to contain them. But this one was worse than all the others. Ariana apparently let loose with a blast of magic that caught her mother off guard, and which was so powerful…well, the healers later told the brothers that every bone in her body was broken. She died instantly. Ariana then took her own life. She stabbed herself in the abdomen with a kitchen knife. The blade hit the main artery that supplies blood to all the organs and the legs. She must have bled out within minutes."

Harry sat back in his chair, not making a sound. Finally, he looked up at Voldemort and said. "Listen, do you have something to drink in this place, and possibly something to eat?"

Voldemort simply nodded, and after re-applying his glamour, cast a spell at the door. Within minutes the door opened and a man in black Death Eater robes entered. Harry saw the man wasn't wearing the customary mask and that it was none other than Draco Malfoy. Malfoy dropped to his knees in front of Voldemort, not noticing who his Lords visitor was. "You called My Lord? How may I be of service?" said Malfoy, and Harry would have had to have been an idiot to not hear the sheer terror in his old nemesis's voice.

"Bring us a bottle of Fire Whiskey, and something light to eat Malfoy. Either some scones, or something similar."

"Y….yes My Lord. Right away my Lord."

Draco started to get up to leave, still oblivious to Harry's presence, but Harry decided he needed something to lighten the mood, and this was an opportunity he couldn't let pass. "Yes and make sure the scones aren't poisoned ferret boy, otherwise I'll make you eat them."

Malfoy's head turned so fast, Harry heard the bones in his neck crack. "YOU! POTTER! WHAT THE BLOODY HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?" he yelled, forgetting where he was for the moment.

Harry smirked at him as he replied calmly. "Talking with your boss of course. I guess he's finally gotten fed up having to use useless near squibs like you and your father, and decided to bring in some wizards who can actually cast a spell."

Malfoy's response to this of course was to go for his wand, but he never even made it half way when he was blasted half way across the room by Voldemort. "Potter is here under my protection Malfoy. Now go and get the drinks and food like I commanded you, and if you every draw a wand in my presence again without my telling you to, I'll make sure what happens to you will make you wish you were still born. Now get out of my sight!"

Harry watched Malfoy crawl to the door on all fours like a toddler, groaning all the way.

"Good help is so hard to find isn't it?" Harry asked him.

To this question, Voldemort actually laughed. It wasn't a big laugh, but it was a laugh none the less. He just might get out of this alive after all.

Act IV - The Agreement Part II

"So Dumbledore's sister killed herself after killing their mother by accident?" Voldemort asked. Harry nodded. "I don't imagine that was taken well by either him or his brother."

"No, it wasn't. From his journal entries, It was her death that finally pushed him over the edge, and turned him into a full blown muggle hater. Aberforth didn't like muggles, but he didn't want them dead or enslaved either."

"You know Potter, this story is very interesting, but how does any of it involve me." Voldemort asked.

"Dumbledore was in Germany in 1931, when he met another powerful wizard by the name of Gellert Grindelwald. Well, Grindelwald was a member of the National Socialist German Workers Party, which was the fore runner of the Nazi Party. The only person in the party that knew he was a wizard was the leader, Adolf Hitler."

"Potter what are you talking about?" There has never been any mention of Grindelwald being mixed up with the muggles of that time." Snapped Voldemort. "I followed everything he did, and I think I would have remembered something like that."

"You're right Tom, there was never a mention of it because Grindelwald used a different name. History, muggle history that is, knows him better as Heinrich Himmler, who after he was captured by the British supposedly killed himself with poison. There's even a photo of his body lying on the ground."

"And this, Himmler was really Grindelwald," Voldemort asked. "and he was posing as a muggle? Why would he debase himself like that Potter?"

At this Harry smiled. "Tom. Tom, Tom. Grindelwald , just like you, was a lot of things. But stupid wasn't one of them. He didn't believe in all that pureblood, anti muggle bullshit…any more than you do!"

At this Voldemort blinked. He couldn't help it. Nobody had ever figured the truth out before. "Potter what are you talking about. I killed my own father and grandparents. You're actually sitting on one of their chairs."

"Yeah, you killed your father. But NOT because he was a muggle. You killed him because he abandoned your mother when she was pregnant with you, which lead to her death. And…" he continued, cutting Voldemort off, who had looked like he was going to object. "…you killed your grandparents because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time and saw you kill your father. But again, it wasn't because they were muggles." Harry took another sip of his fire whiskey, and then continued. "You, just like Grindelwald before you, are simply using the 'muggle excuse' to bring the pure bloods in on your side. The same pure bloods who have most of the money in our world. After all, wars aren't fought for free are they?"

"What do you want Potter?" Voldemort asked

_Here it is. _Harry thought, _This is where I find out if I'm going to survive to see my next birthday._ "Not a lot Tom. I'm willing to swear a magical oath on my life never, by word or deed, to betray you, and to help defend you if you're under attack, to the best of my ability. Unless you do so first. I will, in effect become your Lieutenant. You, will swear an oath on your life never to betray me, by word or deed, unless I do so first. An unfortunate, but necessary precaution for both of us. At least for the time being. Later, we can both re-evaluate the oaths, and decide whether we can trust each other enough to do away with them."

Voldemort was silent for a long time. He simply looked at the boy, no, the _man_, sitting facing him. Finally he asked simply. "And why would you want to do this Potter? Did you suddenly forget that I killed your parents and tried to kill you?"

"Again, it's all in Dumbledore's journal, but in brief, my dear parents were in on the whole thing from the start. They were willing participants, and had me, so that I could be sacrificed, which would anger the Wizarding world, because you killed the heir to one of the best thought of light families in our world. Then Dumbledore could come in, kill you, and with the goodwill that came from ridding the Wizarding world yet again of another dark wizard, he would be able to take over magical Britain completely." Harry paused. "Now, of course things didn't exactly go as they or Dumbledore planned. The Potters ended up dead, you were disembodied, but _not _dead, and I was left an orphan with this fucking scar on my head." Harry said bitterly. "Anyway, read the journal and you'll see that Dumbledore was doing the same things to me as he did to you fifty years ago."

"Anything else?" Voldemort asked dryly.

"Yes, one other thing. Leave my friends and their families alone. In exchange, I'll talk to them, explain what Dumbledore has done, to both of us, and at the least, try to get them to remain neutral. But I'll also try to get them to come over to your side."

"And if the _don't_ remain neutral, or join me? What then Potter?" Voldemort asked.

Harry sighed. "Then as much as it will hurt, they'll be on their own."

Voldemort thought about this, running the pros and cons over and over in his mind. Finally he answered "I agree, conditionally."

"And what condition is that?"

Voldemort held up the journal. "That everything you've told me is confirmed in this." He said.

"Then I agree as well." Harry looked at his watch. It was 10:45. "I have to get back. Hedwig has instructions to take a letter to my friends if I'm not back by 11. Not that I don't _trust _ you, but I wanted some insurance." He said this last bit with a smile, one Voldemort didn't return.

"So read the journal and contact me when you've made a final decision."

"Very well Potter. You'll hear from me, _one way or another_, within a week."

Harry nodded and got up. "Will this portkey return me to my house?" he asked picking up the parchment that had brought him there.

"No, it was only a one way portkey. Don't you know how to apparate yet?"

"Yes of course I do, but the underage det…."

"Potter, do you really think I wouldn't have put every magical detection ward I know on this place? You can apparate from here to your home and the Ministry won't detect it."

Harry nodded. "Thank you."

"Don't thank me yet Potter, I still have to read this." Indicating the journal again.

Harry took out his wand, and then concentrating on his bedroom at Privet Drive, he disappeared.

Act V – Aftermath

Ministry of Magic – Atrium

October 23, 2498

"And that's what happened." Said Mrs. Abury, looking out at the crowd of first year Hogwarts students in front of her. "It would be another year and a half from the end of that first meeting before the war ended. But in the end, Tom Riddle, Harry Potter, and some of his friends and other converts succeeded in bringing down the old corrupt Ministry, thus allowing them to begin making the changes that have allowed us all to live in peace ever since." She paused to let this sink in a bit then continued. "This year marks the five hundredth anniversary of the end of the war, and the Ministry wanted to do something special to commemorate that date. There will be events taking place across Wizarding Britain throughout the year, and they've made arrangements with Hogwarts to allow many of her students to attend them. I hope to see all of you there."

"Can you tell us more about Minister Potter's friends from Hogwarts. What happened to them?" asked a young girl named Meagan. She was Muggle born, and had only found out about the Magical world six months prior.

"Sadly, not all of Minister Potters friends believed him." She replied, shaking her head. "The Weasley family, with the exception of two twins in that family, all backed the Dark Lord Dumbledore. We don't really know whether they knew what he really was or not. The Minister never said, nor was anything ever found in his papers after his death."

"And the others?" Meagan asked.

"Most of his other friends believed and followed him. Including the Longbottom and Lovegood families. They weren't sure about Tom Riddle at first though. It was Dumbledore's journal that finally convinced them, although one of the Longbottom's had a problem with a member of the Lestrange family which ended in a formal duel. "

A small boy in the back raised his hand.

"Yes?" asked Mrs. Abury, "You have a question?"

"Yes," replied the boy. "You said they made a lot of changes in the laws, but not what they were. Can you tell us some of the things they changed?"

"Well, let me put it this way. How many of you here are Muggleborn? She asked the group. About a quarter of them raised their hands.

"Okay, first off, back then, none of you would have been allowed to work for the Ministry in any way. You would have had to pay much higher taxes than a Pureblood. Higher costs for attending Hogwarts, and practically no rights if you were accused of a crime. Also, sentient magical creatures had absolutely no rights whatsoever. Pureblood wizards in fact used to hunt and kill them for sport."

"But…but that's…barbaric!" Meagan stammered. "How could they allow that kind of thing to happen?"

"Sadly, that's the way things were then. The Pureblood families had most of the money, all of the power, and they refused to do anything the might change that. So when the Ministry fell, and Tom Riddle took over as Minister, the first thing he did was scrap all of the laws. Between himself and Mr. Potter, they re-wrote the entire text of the law, most of which remains unchanged to this day. They made it mandatory that every person who wanted to work for the Ministry had to first swear an oath on their magic to uphold the laws of the Ministry, and also made it so that the basic core laws could never be changed."

"What kind of magical oath?" Meagan asked.

_"In Merlin's name," _She started to recite, _"I (your name) swear on my magic that I will support and defend the Ministry of Magic against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will uphold all it's laws, and bear true faith and allegiance to the same for as long as I work here; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So Mote it Be.__"_

"Wow." Meagan said. "When you said you had to take an oath, I didn't think it would be so…so involved."

"Well, the person who wrote the oath was a Muggleborn witch named Hermione Granger. She said she based it on the American oath of office because it was the best one she could find at the time, and because it was the easiest one to adapt…and she was right. In five hundred years nobody who has worked for the Ministry has ever betrayed it."

"Hermione Granger? Wasn't she deputy Minister of Magic at some point?" asked a red headed boy in front.

"Yes she was. When Minister Riddle retired after serving four terms as Minister, Harry Potter was elected Minister in 2017. He actually holds two records. The first being the youngest Minister of Magic in history. He was just 37 when entered office, and second, he was the longest serving Minister at just over one hundred years, or twenty consecutive terms."

"And Mrs. Potter?" the same red head asked.

"Minister Potter asked his wife to accept the post of deputy Minister right after he was elected. She stayed with him by his side the entire hundred years, and retired with him."

"Didn't they also change the Wizengamot as well?" asked a boy at the back of the group"

"Indeed they did. Up until then, seats on the Wizengamot were inherited, usually a father passed his seat to his son, or in some cases his daughter, which is how the Purebloods stayed in power. But that was changed to make it so that everyone, including the Minister of Magic, had to be elected by the people of Britain in order to have a seat, and their term was limited to 5 years."

"But they can be re-elected, right?" someone asked.

"Yes they can. There's no limit to the number of times you can be elected, as Minister Potter proved. But you _do_ have to be elected every five years. Are there any other questions?"

Meagan raised her hand again, something that made Mrs. Abury smile. "Yes?" she asked.

"I read in _Modern Wizarding History _that some people back then used to be locked up in prison without a trial. Was that true?"

"Yes, there were a great many people locked up in Azkaban Prison, for years in some cases, who had never been given a trial. At least if they were lucky they were locked up."

"But how can you say they were lucky? How could things have been worse than being sent to prison when you're really innocent?"

Many of the Professors that had accompanied the group of children looked away as Meagan asked this. They all knew their history, and most were still ashamed of the actions of some of their now long dead ancestors.

"During the last year of the war, the Minister of Magic was a vile, evil woman named Deloris Umbridge. She had over a thousand Muggle born witches and wizards, as well as their families arrested, claiming that these Muggle borns were not magical at all, but had "_stolen" _their magic from another witch or wizard, turning them into squibs. She had nearly all of them pushed through the Veil of Death, or kissed by Dementors for their so called _crimes_." She shuddered as she told them this last part. "In many ways, she was far worse than Dumbledore ever was. He just wanted to enslave the Muggles."

"What happened to her?" asked Meagan.

"She was arrested when the Ministry fell, and charged with crimes against the people of the Wizarding World. Her trial took nearly a week, extremely long for a magical trial, but in the end she was convicted, and publicly executed two days later in Diagon Alley."

"How?" asked the red headed boy, who was now standing next to Meagan. She would find out later when they got back to Hogwarts that his name was Frederick John Weasley the Fifth. Great-great-great-great grandson of Fred Weasley. The only surviving member of the Weasley family left to carry on the name after the war ended. Something he excelled at, having fathered seventeen children by three wives.

"You sure you want to know?" Mrs. Abury asked him. "It's pretty gruesome." The red head nodded, a bit unsure now.

"Well, some of the _other _magical beings that she had killed were members of what is now called The Goblin Federation. Because of this, they asked that she be extradited so they could put her on trial for crimes against their people. The Ministry did this after they held their own trial. Her Goblin trial only took 6 hours. She was found guilty and sentenced to death for high crimes against the Goblin people. It was they who carried out the execution under Goblin law. This is also why it was done in public. She was hanged and her body cut up into seven pieces which were then all placed on pikes and displayed all around Gringotts as a warning."

Megan shuddered. "That's horrible. I know she was evil, but how could they do that?"

"The Goblins are not like us. We get along very well…now. They believe in honesty, respect, and when necessary, swift…brutal...justice. However, if you show them the respect they deserve, you'll never have a reason to fear them. Just never try to cross them."

"And what about Dumbledore?" Meagan asked her. "What happened to him?"

"Dumbledore chose to make his stand at Salisbury Plain." Mrs. Abury said. "He was trying to use the power of the stone circle of Stonehenge to defeat Tom Riddle and Harry Potter. But both of them arrived before he could finish whatever he was trying to do and a battle started with Dumbledore on one side, and Harry Potter and Tom Riddle on the other, and to be honest, we really don't know what took place that night because neither Mr. Potter nor Mr. Riddle would talk about the fight except to say that Dumbledore was dead."

It was these final words that the students took with them as their Professors started herding them towards to the Ministry entrance point where they could take a portkey back to school.

Mrs. Abury, who's full name was Lillian Jane Potter Abury, watched as they disappeared, and then heard someone clear their throat behind her. "Well, how did I do?" she asked without turning. She already knew who it was.

"Excellent, just as I knew you would."

She turned and looked at the person who had spoken to her. The person in question, turned out to be a very large portrait. In it sat a distinguished looking man, his once jet black hair now streaked with gray, and wearing the purple robes of the Minister of Magic. Next to him, looking no less dignified, sat a woman with bushy brown hair. (She would claim to her dying day she never colored it.) Underneath was a plaque reading simply:

_Harry James Potter_

_Minister of Magic_

_2017-2117_

_Hermione Jane Granger Potter_

_Deputy Minister of Magic_

_2017-2117_

"So you really think I did okay? It was my first time doing a tour like this."

Harry Potter chuckled from his portrait. "Lily, how could you not? You're a Potter. Never forget that."

"How did you do it? The first time you had to get up in front of a large group of people and talk like that?"

Harry smiled at her and motioned with his index finger for her to come closer. When she did he whispered. "I was scared shitless, just like you were. But I did what I had to do. Just like you did."

His smile disappeared though as a loud smack echoed through the Atrium. Hermione had smacked him on the back of his head. "Harry! Language!"

"Yes dear." He said to his wife, giving her his best '_I'm really sorry.' _Look. The look didn't last long though because he started to laugh after about 5 seconds.

"Four hundred years he's been hanging here and I still can't get him to behave." Hermione said with a huff.

Lillian was still laughing when her laughter turned into a yawn. "Oh I'm so sorry. It's been a long day for me."

"You should head home Lily. You look like you need some sleep. We'll see you when you come in to work tomorrow." Said her many times great grandmother.

"I think I'll do that." She replied, yawning again. "You two have a good night." She said before heading up to her office before heading home. As she headed up, she was thinking about how different the Wizarding would have been if Harry not found that journal so many years ago, and had the courage to go see his enemy. How very different indeed.

The End

A/N #2: And so that's the story.

If you liked the story please send in a review, or, even if you didn't like it. Because every time you read a story and _don't_ send in a review, a baby bunny cries.

Till next time.


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